Common questions
The things people ask before they get in touch
Straight answers to the questions that come up most often — including the ones about money and confidentiality that people are too polite to ask first time.
If yours isn’t here, just ask me.
What actually happens in the first conversation?
We talk for about 45 minutes — coffee, phone or video, whichever suits you. You tell me what’s going on and what you’re trying to achieve, and I ask questions until I understand it properly.
There’s no charge and no pitch at the end. If I think I can help I’ll say how. If I don’t, I’ll tell you that instead, and you’ll still leave with something useful.
How long do people usually work with you?
It varies enormously. Some people come for a handful of sessions to get through something specific. Others have been with me for years because the business keeps changing and they want someone outside it to think with.
There’s no minimum commitment and no tie-in. If it stops being worth it, stop.
Is this coaching or consulting?
Both, honestly, and anyone who claims a hard line between them is selling you a methodology.
Most of the time I’ll ask rather than tell, because you know your business and the answers that stick are the ones you reach yourself. But if you’re about to make a mistake I’ve watched other people make, I’m not going to sit there asking how that makes you feel.
Do you work in person or online?
Both. A lot of the UK work happens face to face — I’m based between London and Hertford and travel across the South East. The rest is over video, which works perfectly well.
I also work regularly in Europe, the UAE and Japan.
What’s the difference between the three services?
Executive coaching is one-to-one with a senior leader. Business reset and growth is for owners of small and medium-sized businesses, and starts with the numbers. Culture transformation is work with a whole organisation, usually starting with the leadership team.
Plenty of engagements start as one and turn into another. The first conversation sorts out which you actually need.
What is the Say It method?
It’s the approach I built for culture work. Not a values exercise and not a poster campaign — a practical way to have the conversations that get delayed, diluted or avoided, and to shift the behaviour that follows them.
Most cultures don’t break because people are bad at their jobs. They break because nobody says the thing everybody already knows.
Is what I tell you confidential?
Yes. What’s said in a session stays in it.
Where a company is paying for an individual’s coaching, I’ll agree up front with everyone what does and doesn’t get reported back — usually attendance and broad themes, never content. That gets settled before we start, not afterwards.
My company would be paying. Does that change anything?
It changes who signs the invoice and nothing else. The sessions belong to the person being coached.
If you’re an HR lead or a managing director arranging coaching for someone, I’m happy to talk to you first about what you’re hoping will change.
What if it isn’t working?
Tell me and we’ll fix it or stop. Coaching that both people can tell isn’t landing is a waste of your money and my time.
I’d far rather end something early than have someone quietly stop getting value and keep paying for it.
What does it cost?
The first conversation is free. After that, work is priced by the session, by the day for workshops, or as a package where that makes more sense.
I’ll give you a straight figure in the first conversation once I know what you actually need. No packages you have to buy into before you’ve met me.
Do you only work with big brands?
No, and it’s the thing I most want to correct. I work with some large global brands and you can see them on the homepage, but most of my time goes on owners of businesses with a handful of staff.
If the logos make you think you’d be too small or I’d be too expensive, neither is true.
What are your qualifications?
I’m a Registered Corporate Coach with the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches, and accredited by the Institute of Leadership & Management and the Business Coaching Academy. I’m BIMA’s resident coach for the UK digital industry, and I assess developing coaches through London’s Business Coaching Academy.
Eighteen years coaching, and nearly four decades running businesses before and alongside it.
Let’s see if the fit is right
It starts with a chat — coffee, Zoom or phone, 45 minutes, no charge and no pitch. Tell me what’s going on and what you’re trying to achieve. If I’m not the right person for you I’ll say so, and you’ll still come away with something useful.